AN: Writing is currently like trying to get blood out of a stone, but we made it x.
Kate watched in horror as Ducky pierced the body's abdomen with the liver probe and slid it into place.
"You're not starting the autopsy here, are you?" she said, her face awash with disgust at the idea, causing Tony and Jenny to share an amused smirk from across the crime scene.
"Heavens no," said Ducky, looking up at her in surprise. "Just taking his liver temperature in order to determine time of death."
"The president's physician declared him at 2032 Zulu." Kate said, checking her PDA with the air of someone used to being right.
"Ah, but it never hurts to double check," Ducky said with a wry smile.
"Excuse me," said Tony importantly as he moved past Kate with a laser and a sketchpad in hand, "You'll need to stand clear so I can take measurements for my crime scene sketches."
"Why? She took photos."
"She has a name." Jenny said coolly, feeling somewhat irrationally annoyed by the other woman. On one hand she empathised with her; she was a woman in a man's world and trying her damndest to do her job and duty, and on the other her own patience was a finite resource, and she wished to hell that she'd just get out of the way and let them get on with it.
"Sorry," Kate said quickly, clearly taken aback.
Tony grabbed a magazine from the nearby seat and dangled it in front of Kate. "Can you tell me her measurements?" he asked, grinning.
"What? You're disgusting."
"He is," Jenny concurred evenly, looking up from her notepad, "but he also has a point."
Tony grinned and went back to bothering Kate. "Can you tell me if she's five foot four and a 34C or 5 foot 7 and a 36D?"
Kate sputtered, unsure whether to be outraged or not, and Tony continued, "The point is you can't, not from a photo. Which is why we do sketches and take measurements."
Kate walked back over to the seating area and pointedly away from Tony, and Jenny came to look over his shoulder. "36D?" she asked wryly, smirking at him. "That's optimistic."
Tony pulled a face at her in response.
Ducky pulled the probe from the corpse and read the gauge. "I got 1915 Zulu."
"Well then you miscalculated." Kate hit back promptly.
"Miscalculated what?" Gibbs asked, appearing behind them.
"Ah, Jethro, There's a discrepancy between my time of death and that of the president's physician."
Gibbs mulled this over, but his face gave away nothing.
"Enough sketches, Tony, Agent Todd's going to give you a floor plan."
"No, I'm not." She replied, her mouth in a taut line.
Tony watched as Gibbs started up the hall and 'Agent Todd' stalked off behind him. Jenny raised an eyebrow.
Tony glanced at her and grinned. "You don't like her, do you."
"I don't know her." Jenny said neutrally, still going about her business.
"Yet there are all these teensy little signals coming from you that say you're not a fan."
Jenny sighed and reluctantly gave him her full attention, pinning him with her gaze. "Okay, DiNozzo, do I like her more or less than you?"
"Well I don't-wait, how much do you like me?"
"How much does she like who?" Gibbs asked, returning sooner than expected.
"Just asking what she thought of the dead body, boss."
Gibbs shot Tony a penetrating glare but said nothing.
"Jethro," Ducky said, rising from his position by the body, "I believe I know why the discrepancy with commander Trapp's time of death. Now since the Commander had lunch with the president, I'm sure his physician rushed to evaluate his condition; he also called the Commander's time of death."
"That's right," Kate said, also arriving, "Once he was sure the president wasn't in any medical danger, he returned. He was gone for almost an hour.
"I'm sure a fully autopsy will show that Commander Trapp expired almost immediately." Ducky Said.
"I owe you an apology, doctor."
"It's really not a problem. I'm just relieved we straightened it out; it's inconsistencies like these that start conspiracy theories."
Gibbs turned to Kate and grinned. "Rule number three: Don't believe what you're told, double check."
"Should I be writing these down or crocheting them on a pillow?" Kate snarked, unimpressed.
"Nope. Just something to keep in mind." Gibbs said, smirking. He paused and turned to his team.
"Jenny, DiNozzo," He said. gesturing to them, "Start bagging and tagging," he said pointing in the direction of the private rooms where the President and the commander had shared lunch.
"On it Boss." Tony said, and headed on through. Jenny caught Gibbs's eye for a meaningful moment before she did the same.
Kate looked between Gibbs and Jenny's retreating form. "NCIS doesn't have rules against that?"
Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her but said nothing, and Kate gave up.
"Never mind. I've got to go and talk to my boss."
Gibbs smirked and shook his head as she walked away. She was uptight but he had to admit, she had balls.
"Awesome, the President's desk!" Tony said, his eyes lighting up as they entered the room.
Jenny laughed. "What are you, twelve?"
Tony was unperturbed. "Come on, you gotta admit, seeing it in real life is pretty cool. Take my picture, pretty please?"
Jenny rolled her eyes at him, but taking his picture was more appealing than scraping congealed Texas barbecue into evidence bags so she acquiesced. The cloyingly sweet smell alone was making her stomach want to crawl out of the nearest exit. "Fine."
Tony passed her the camera before sitting down in the president's chair. He started with a mock serious pose with his elbows resting on the desk and Jenny snapped a photo. She smirked Burley and Decker could only dream of being this ridiculous. Neither of her old teammates had had the guts to be that ridiculous with Gibbs lurking just around the corner, and speaking of Burley, she could only hope that wherever he was stationed right now that it was far, far away, because once he found out she was pregnant, especially by Gibbs, he would never let her live it down.
"You want me to take one of you?" Tony offered.
"No, I'll pass."
Tony tried out a few more poses with Jenny snapping each one.
Gibbs walked in just as Tony kicked his feet onto the desk and rolled his eyes, but Jenny didn't miss the ghost of a smirk on his face.
Nor did she miss the pure, unadulterated outrage Agent Todd was wearing on hers.
"Oh no," Kate started, "I draw the line at him sitting in the President's chair."
"He's not using it." Tony retorted, daring her to do something.
Kate shot him a filthy look.
Gibbs ignored them. "Enough with the photos. What happened to bagging and tagging?"
"We were just waiting for you, boss," Tony lied in a way that managed to be both smooth and unconvincing.
Gibbs glared at him.
"Bagging and tagging what?" Kate asked.
"We'll start with everything." Gibbs said. "President was sitting there?"
"Pretty good bet," Kate snapped, wholly unimpressed. "Seeing as it is his desk."
Jenny snapped on a pair of gloves and began sliding each plate into bags, her stomach lurching as she went. Barbecue was, it seemed, now firmly on the 'no' list.
Her reticence did not escape Gibbs's notice. "You okay, Jen?"
"Uh, boss." Tony pointed to a very pale Kate. she retched once, clamped her hand over her mouth and ran from the room. Gibbs grabbed an evidence bag and chased after her.
At that, Jenny promptly lost all remaining control over her revulsion and threw up all over the desk.
Tony yelped and leapt backwards and out of the way. "Ugh, Jesus! Wait until the Secret Service chick finds out you ralphed on the President's desk."
"Shut up, DiNozzo," Jenny coughed before excusing herself to the adjoining bathroom, not bothering to close the door.
Gibbs returned with a bag of vomit in his hand.
"You think she's got whatever killed the Commander?" Tony asked, referring to the bag.
"Don't know. What the hell happened?" Gibbs asked, noticing the stomach contents now also splattered across the desk.
"I have no idea. One minute, Agent Todd looked like she was gonna barf, the next Jenny is losing it all over the desk."
Gibbs tensed visibly as an uncomfortable knot settled in the pit of his stomach. He'd been so busy worrying about the physical dangers of a crime scene that he hadn't stopped to consider that this one might expose her to other kinds of dangers. Maybe they should all suit up, but it hadn't seemed like that sort of crime scene, and it still didn't, but it didn't make him feel any better. "Where is she now?"
"In here." Jenny called balefully from bathroom.
Gibbs and Tony traded worried glances, both thinking the same thing.
Gibbs handed the offending bag to a grimacing Tony. "Put that with the evidence, and collect the rest of it."
"On it, boss." Tony said, though he'd very much rather not be. Good old NCIS: no private jet, and all the barf you could carry.
Gibbs strode into the bathroom and discovered Jenny at the sink dabbing her mouth with a paper towel. "What happened?" He asked, his face etched with concern.
"Morning sickness", she said, throwing the towel into the trash can. "The smell of the president's lunch was already getting to me, then Agent Todd throwing up was apparently a bit too much." Jenny studied the lines of his face. "You're worried."
"Yeah, well. There's a dead guy out there who died of unknown causes, then Agent Todd takes ill, and now you get sick all of a sudden where the dead guy had lunch."
"I'm fine, Jethro. I have no other symptoms."
"I want Ducky to check you out, make sure you're okay." His eyes raked hers as he tried to gauge her level of resistance. "Please?" He asked, resting his hand gently on the back of her neck.
Jenny nodded and tried to control her breathing. His touch was distracting, and she craved it desperately, but now was not the time or place.
Gibbs moved his hand to the small of her back and guided her out of the bathroom and past DiNozzo. "Once you're done there, DiNozzo, onto plan B."
Tony visibly gulped."Sure."
"What's plan B?" Jenny asked as they entered the corridor.
"He goes for a ride in a body bag while we sneak the Commander out the back."
"Of course he does."
"Jennifer, Jethro, what can I do for you?" Ducky asked upon noticing their arrival. He looked between the two taking in Gibbs's apparent agitation and Jenny's quiet tolerance for it. They were reminding him very much of how they'd been in France, so he could only hope that meant that things had improved between them.
"I just threw up, and Gibbs needs you to tell him I'm fine so I can get back to work." Jenny stated with only a hint of irony.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and came as close as he ever did to huffing. "I need you to make sure she doesn't have whatever Agent Todd has, and if she does that it's got nothing to do with what happened to the Commander."
"Well, the good news is Agent Todd appears to have nothing more than a stomach virus, though of course I won't know for sure until we return."
"No, it is, I know it is." Kate said firmly.
"What makes you so sure?" Ducky asked, observing her curiously.
"It's the same symptoms Major Kerry had, which is why Commander Trapp was carrying the football to begin with."
"Ah," said Ducky, "You and he worked together recently?"
"No."
"Then how did you?...Oh, I see." Ducky said as he put two and two together.
Gibbs peered at Kate intently and she met his gaze head on. "You going to lecture me about sleeping with people I work with?"
"Nope."
Jenny smirked.
"No," Ducky said, smiling broadly. "Jethro here has what one might call 'firsthand experience' in that department."
Gibbs glared at him, while Jenny rolled her eyes.
Ducky grinned widely once more before sobering as he remembered the task at hand. "Now, Jennifer, any other symptoms?"
"Other than more weird food aversions and being triggered by other people throwing up? No."
"Yes, well, it's not uncommon for pregnant women to vomit at the sight of others doing so. In fact, the theory goes that it's a protective measure, as the spontaneous expulsion of the stomach contents of the mother to be would ensure that any particles inhaled from the sickness of the other person would be flushed from her system. Just let me take your temperature."
Kate squinted at the thermometer as an unpleasant thought struck her. "You don't use that on dead bodies, do you?"
"Rarely. I prefer the liver probe. It's clean, I disinfected it a moment ago after using it on you my dear."
Jenny paled as Ducky placed the thermometer under her tongue. She'd come a long way since her first time in autopsy, but the thought of where this thing had been was something she couldn't afford to dwell on.
Ducky removed the thermometer from Jenny's mouth and checked the temperature. "Everything does appear to be normal. I'd say that it was indeed just another case of pregnancy induced emesis."
Gibbs relaxed visibly. "I just gotta go and tell DiNozzo to go to plan B," he said, kissing Jenny on the forehead.
Her cheeks flushed at the unexpected contact and Kate made eye contact and shot her a knowing grin. There was something satisfying about watching them interact, especially when Gibbs was like he was, and Kate was fascinated.
"Jethro, what exactly is 'plan B'?" Ducky asked.
"DiNozzo gets to go for a ride in a body bag." Gibbs said, smirking as he walked away.
Jenny laughed, and Kate's mouth hung open as she processed what she'd just heard. "He's enjoying this," she stated, her words tinged with incredulity.
"Oh yes," Ducky said with a smile, "Very much."